


Whumptober 2020 - 09 - Wrong Place

by Celticgal1041



Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt Thomas, Hurt/Comfort, Ritual Sacrifice, Whump, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:50:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26920168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celticgal1041/pseuds/Celticgal1041
Summary: Kahuna raised his arms upwards, the knife held in both hands as he prepared to plunge it into his victim’s soft belly.
Series: Whumptober 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949548
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Whumptober 2020 - 09 - Wrong Place

Magnum grunted as he tripped on some unseen twig or vine beneath his feet, staggering forward only to be pulled harshly back by an iron grip on his upper arm. Had he had the energy, he would have thrown the man beside him a harsh glare, but as things stood, he had barely enough strength remaining to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

He felt like they’d been trudging along the overgrown trail for days, although rationally he knew it hadn’t been more than a couple hours. Given that he was at less than one hundred percent, he felt the hyperbole was warranted.

“Watch where you’re putting your feet, haole,” the man next to him ordered, giving his arm a forceful tug to reinforce his words. Magnum merely gritted his teeth as he regained his balance, or at least as much as he could with his hands tied behind his back.

“Not to complain,” he began somewhat breathlessly, “but how much farther before this forced march ends?”

“Be there by now if you’d stop falling down every five minutes,” his companion scowled back at him. The man next to him was dressed in traditional Hawaiian garb, which left his bulging biceps in full view. Magnum had heard one of the others call him Makoa, and he’d filed the name away for later. Of the half-dozen men surrounding him, he’d only heard that name and that of the leader, a man they called Kahuna, although he wasn’t certain if that was his name or title, given its meaning in the Hawaiian language.

Magnum’s foot caught on another obstruction, and this time he knew he was going down, his foot being firmly held by whatever he’d managed to snag it on. Moments later, he found himself impacting with the ground, not even Makoa’s obscenely muscled arms able to keep him upright when his right leg refused to move.

He’d landed badly, the evidence pulled from his chest in the form of a pained howl that he didn’t have a chance to smother. Overbalanced as he was on one leg, and with no way to catch himself, he’d fallen awkwardly on his left side, the sharp crack of breaking bone sounding incredibly loud against the backdrop of the rainforest.

“Kahuna!” Makoa called as he watched their captive writhe weakly on the ground, small sounds of pain continuing between shallow pants of air.

Magnum was still partially on his left side, his face pressed into the damp earth beneath him as he struggled weakly to escape the agony in his shoulder. He would have rolled onto his back if he could, but Thomas was certain that the position would be far worse with his arms bound behind his back. Instead, he settled mostly on his front, despite the increased challenge it created in taking a proper breath.

Vaguely, he heard the low moans of pain vibrating through his chest and throat but was completely incapable of stopping. So consumed was he by the sharp pain, that he didn’t even notice Makoa’s words or Kahuna’s arrival at his side until the latter planted his sandaled foot just beneath his slightly elevated side.

As though attempting to flip over a beetle, the Hawaiian thoughtlessly kicked the investigator’s side, forcing the little air in his lungs out in another breathless shout of pain as his weight shifted further onto his damaged left side. His flanks expanding like bellows, Magnum fought for enough air to push the dark spots from his vision. “Don’t,” he managed to croak out as the foot returned and he braced himself for another blow.

The second kick landed, failing just as spectacularly as the first in turning him over onto his back, but the blow ignited a fire along the nerve endings in his shoulder. A gasped, feeble cry left his lips as his face pressed more deeply into the damp undergrowth in an attempt to escape the pain. Each ragged inhale was accompanied by the pungent smell of rotting vegetation and the taste of gritty soil on his tongue, but nothing could override the relentless ache stemming from his shoulder.

“Get him up,” Kahuna ordered, stepping back to allow his men access.

“No,” Magnum mumbled as he sensed men at his sides, already bracing for another onslaught of pain.

As hands gripped his upper arms and pulled, Thomas’ vision whited out, his pain receptors overloading the moment his left arm was jostled. A short scream made its way past his lips before his head fell forward to hang slackly from his neck as he passed out from the pain.

Satisfied, Kahuna returned to his lead position, allowing the two men to drag Magnum along between them to their destination.

* * *

Magnum’s head was pounding. That was his first thought as awareness slowly peeled back the black veil that had stolen his consciousness. Each beat of his heart sent a throb of discomfort through his skull that seemed to echo inside the confined space.

Needing to escape the torment between his ears, he shifted his head minutely to one side, stopping immediately as fire lanced upwards from his shoulder making him gasp at the fierce shock of pain. Now that he was aware of it, there was no way he could return to blissful ignorance, and the hot agony centred around his shoulder stole his breath away.

His lungs froze for several long seconds as he waited for the stunning torment in his shoulder to ease, only realizing what was happening when he became dizzy with the lack of oxygen. His first gasp of air was a cross between a sob and an inhale, the simple act of drawing breath somehow continuing to aggravate his injured left side.

Forcing his eyes open, he immediately shut them tightly again at the vertigo that struck. The quick glimpse he’d caught made absolutely no sense and set his head swimming anew.

“He’s awake,” a male voice called out. Moments later fingers grabbed at his hair, pulling his head along with it.

The motion prompted him to try opening his eyes again, although the sight that met his gaze had him wishing once more for unconsciousness. Blinking owlishly, he waited for the sight that greeted him to correct itself, but it didn’t change no matter how many times his eyes closed and opened – he was upside down.

With effort, he dragged his gaze upwards, ignoring the muddled part of his brain that said he was actually looking down. Makoa was standing in just in front of him, grinning widely, and it was his fingers twined painfully into Magnum’s short hair.

“Wha’?” Thomas rasped out, doing his best to focus despite the increasingly loud complaints of his body.

“We gonna do you old school, haole,” Makoa announced, abruptly releasing his hold on the investigator’s hair and allowing Magnum’s head to fall loosely back into its original position.

Thomas watched the Hawaiian move away to rejoin his friends who were engrossed in something several feet away. Still confused by the odd view, he forced his upper body to bend forward a couple inches before the fire in his shoulder erupted and had him limply falling back.

Squeezing his eyes, he could feel the moisture trickling out from beneath his lids. His breaths had been reduced to short, shallow inhales, interspersed with low whimpers of pain from the intensity of the ache that encompassed his shoulder and neck regions.

Once the fiery ache had receded enough that he no longer felt like he was in immediate danger of either passing out or throwing up, he prised his lids open again and then carefully turned his head to the left, stopping as soon as he felt the nauseating grind of bone on bone. ‘Nope, really, really bad idea,’ he thought to himself as he once more waited for the pain to abate.

“Don’t worry, haole, we’re almost ready,” Makoa called from the throng of men, holding up a wicked looking blade that glinted in the sunlight.

Magnum swallowed with difficulty, the pounding in his head seeming to grow with every beat of his heart; being hung upside down sucked.

“It’s time,” Kahuna announced, the man suddenly in front of him.

“Why?” Thomas panted out, needing to at least understand what was happening to him.

“This Heiau has been used by our ancestors for hundreds of years to ensure plentiful harvests and provide courage to warriors going into battle,” the Hawaiian explained. “Your blood will please God Ku and grant us victory – you should be honored.”

“But why,” he paused to try and wet his mouth enough to continue. “Why me?”

It was Makoa, standing off to one side, who answered with another broad grin. “Wrong place, wrong time,” he said as he shrugged.

Magnum returned his gaze to Kahuna, squinting up at the man, determined to look him in the eye - or as close as he could come in his position – when the end came. Kahuna raised his arms upwards, the knife held in both hands as he prepared to plunge it into his victim’s soft belly.

“HPD! Hold it right there!” A new voice shouted, physically jarring Thomas, and making the ache in his shoulder spike again with his abrupt movement.

“Thank God,” Magnum breathed out, too tired and in pain to pay attention to what happened next, and simply praying that someone would show up to cut him down soon.

What seemed like only moments later, he felt an unexpected hand on his leg. The touch surprised him and had his eyes popping open, relieved to find TC and Rick huddled close to him as they decided how best to get him down. “Jesus, Tommy, what’d they do to you?”

Magnum was attached to a large wooden frame, his feet tied to a hook that jutted out from the top beam. His hands had been left tied behind him, leaving him hanging like a side of beef at a slaughterhouse.

Now that the fear of being gutted had passed, Thomas was rapidly being overcome by pain and just wanted some relief. Licking dry lips, he could only manage a single word, “Please.”

“Just hold on another second, brother,” TC replied, correctly reading their friend’s physical and mental state. “We’ll have you down before you know it.”

Magnum could feel Calvin’s strong arms encompassing his upper body, the pressure pressing uncomfortably on his injured left side. He bit his lip against the sounds of pain in his throat, determined not to make things any harder than they already were for his friends. After all, it’s not every day you discover one of your best friends about to become a human sacrifice.

“I’m just about through,” Magnum heard Rick say, and he took comfort in knowing he’d soon be free.

“TC, catch him!” Wright suddenly shouted as the knife he’d been using unexpectedly sliced through the remaining fibres of rope, dropping all of the investigator’s weight into the pilot’s arms.

Calvin grunted when their friend’s body dropped, having expected a more controlled descent with Rick managing Magnum’s legs. When that didn’t happen, he was unable to hold onto the man, only managing to soften Thomas’ fall to the hard stone platform that make up the base of the Heiau.

Magnum howled in pain when his body struck the unforgiving rock. His cry cut off abruptly as nerve endings lit up and overwhelmed his brain, his body falling limp in what remained of TC’s hold.

“What the hell?” Rick asked in astonishment, already dropping to his knees beside the insensate man. Pressing his fingers to the pulse point at Thomas’ neck, he let out a sigh of relief as he announced, “Passed out.”

TC nodded slowly, still holding their friend now partly sprawled over his lap. His gaze was fixed on the investigator’s neck and shoulder, and his eyes were wide as he asked, “Is that bone poking out of his skin?”

To be continued on day 12...

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to AZGirl for proofing; all remaining mistakes are mine.
> 
> This story was based on the day 9 prompt: For the greater good: take me instead / run! / ritual sacrifice
> 
> Thanks for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts if you're so inclined!


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